At the end of the league half, Dortmund is currently ranked sixth, and too many draws are one of the reasons why they are not ranked high.

Of course, some media have also analyzed that Klopp has launched a large number of young people, which is also the main reason for unstable grades.

However, for Dortmund fans, they are already very satisfied. You should know that Dortmund's final ranking was 13th last season.

After changing the head coach, the team can still finish sixth, which is already considered good.

Moreover, Dortmund fans are the most loyal fans in Europe. Even if the team's performance fluctuates, they have no complaints. Every home game day, Westphalon Stadium is full and crowded.

Although Zhou Yi has not seen Dortmund's first team game yet, he has already understood this.

For example, the family he stayed at was a loyal Dortmund fan family. In addition to their freak daughter, the family, and even Mark's mother were hardcore Dortmund fans.

Dortmund logos and yellow and black surroundings can be seen everywhere in the home.

Mark's teeth-brushing cup is the Dortmund logo. The old Wagner and beer glasses are printed with the Dortmund logo. In addition, there are Dortmund alarm clocks, Dortmund bath towels, Dortmund hats, Dortmund foot pads, Dortmund gloves, Dortmund bed sheets, and quilt covers at home...

The home is completely a Dortmund Club authorized peripheral product exhibition.

Even the Mercedes-Benz sedan in their house is yellow and black, as if they are afraid that others will not know that their house is all Dortmund fans.

When I first came, it was an eye-opener for Zhou Yi, who lacked the corresponding football culture in China.

However, after staying for a month, Zhou Yi gradually got used to it. The wash towel he used now was a yellow towel with the Dortmund logo. When he first used it, he was worried about fading. Mark comforted him: "Anyway, you are a yellow person, with yellow skin, and you can't tell if you fade!"

Zhou Yi rolled his eyes back: "Then why haven't you been dyed into a yellow race?"

Mark retorted: "That's because our German goods are of good quality!"

Zhou Yi pointed to the German "Made in China" on his towel label to show him, and he didn't say anything.

※ ※ ※

Since that night's Christmas family dinner, Zhou Yi has never seen Cortana again. According to her younger brother Mark, she made an appointment with her classmates to go on a trip.

"Did I let your family travel plan fail?" Zhou Yi asked.

"Of course not. In fact, we don't go out to play every Christmas." Mark waved his hands repeatedly.

"I believe it if you say that!"

"Of course it's true!"

So, during the Christmas holiday, Mark and his parents went anywhere and were at home.

Zhou Yi's daily life is also very simple. He learns language by himself, trains physical fitness with Mark, and does some excellent training together in the afternoon. Naturally, he does "special training" with Mark in the game in the evening.

Of course. He naturally threw the book that Cortana gave him directly into the drawer and didn't even flip through it.

During this period, Zhou Yi and Tim Kister had a meal together. Kister told him that he was going back to Japan, and Zhou Yi was still a little surprised.

"After all, I'm not a specialized translator. I'm a scout, so I still have to go back to do my job. And you should have no problem with your language communication now, and you don't need this translator."

Zhou Yi was a little reluctant to let it go.

Keest smiled: "But I think I will go back to Dortmund often to see how you perform. Next, you will depend on yourself for your life and study and training here. Playing football abroad is the ability to live independently. But many Chinese players ignore this point, which is also one of the reasons why they fail. I hope you don't follow their old path."

Zhou Yi nodded to Kister's advice and accepted them all.

Kester also knew that Zhou Yi was a sensible child, so he didn't say much.

After dinner, Kester drove Zhou Yi back to Mark's house. He waved to Zhou Yi in the car and drove away.

Zhou Yi was standing outside, watching Kester's car disappear completely at the corner of the street.

He was grateful to Mr. Keest. Although he said he was a scout, for Zhou Yi, he did more than just a scout job.

※ ※ ※

The Christmas holiday ended, and news began to appear in Dortmund's TV station that players returned to Bracker's training base, which meant that the first team had begun training camps.

At the same time, the training of the youth team also began.

Zhou Yi and Mark return to u17.

Physical training still occupies a very important part of Zhou Yi's daily training, and physical training is not just carried out with Bartlett in the gym, but is integrated into all training programs.

For example, multiple short-term small games with limited recovery time, the game time is two minutes. After the two minutes, the players have a very short rest before continuing the game; let the players have more contact with the ball, four-on-four or smaller games; force the players to make quick decisions in the free throw area or smaller marking area, and require passing the ball in a quick run.

Small races mean less rest time, so the body must learn to adapt to the quick responses that each sprint leads to temporary fatigue.

In terms of endurance training, sports often involve more athletes and larger spaces, while requiring long-term exercise at a fixed pace. For example, fifteen to twenty minutes of training or eight-on-eight or larger games are performed on three-quarters or the entire field, while requiring all players to be in the offensive area before shooting.

These trainings are excellent for physical recovery.

With Zhou Yi's physical fitness, when he first started this kind of training, he struggled. After two groups, he was so tired that he couldn't hold on. The training intensity here was much greater than the training intensity of which team I put together to film a reality show. It was based on professional leagues.

However, after more than a month of physical training, Zhou Yi has gradually been able to keep up with this training rhythm.

After physical fitness was able to keep up, Zhou Yi's performance was also guaranteed.

He showed why Klopp had a crush on him in his daily training.

The head coach of u17 was a little surprised, but what he was surprised was not Zhou Yi's personal ability. After all, he was commanding the team on the sidelines in that game, and his performance towards Zhou Yi can be vividly remembered.

What surprised him was the tacit understanding between Zhou Yi and his teammates.

Logically speaking, Zhou Yi has only been in this team for more than a month, and he and many people in this team should not know each other, so he can only be regarded as knowing each other. Tacit understanding is simply impossible.

However, when the team was practicing together, Zhou Yi seemed to have been training with this team for a year. He knew very well what his teammates played, as a midfield organizer. This was reflected in his passing and searching for space.

He seemed to know how his teammates were used to running, where they appeared, and what their style of playing football was, so the pass he gave was always just right.

As for his teammates, he was even more surprised. Although some of them had fought against Zhou Yi in the original game, the feeling of being an opponent and being a teammate is different. The feeling of being a teammate is deeper and more detailed.

When they passed the football to Zhou Yi during training, then ran forward and turned around to remind Zhou Yi to pass the ball to themselves, they saw that the football had been passed by Zhou Yi!

They don’t need to shout at all, nor do they need to raise their hands. They just run. As long as they have time, the football will be passed by Zhou Yi.

Mark finally understood why Zhou Yi had to set his vision to ninety-nine... Such a powerful ability to find space is indeed worthy of ninety-nine's vision!

In the ability to find space, the coaching staff of u17 have all seen Zhou Yi's ability.

Head coach Ecker began to consider whether he wanted to give Zhou Yi a chance to play in advance.

He previously thought that even if Zhou Yi passed the physical fitness level, he still needed to increase the coordination with his teammates so that he could integrate into the team.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Yi didn't seem to have to integrate into the team at all. He seemed to be born to play football in this team.

In this way, the only factor restricting Zhou Yi from appearing is physical fitness.

So after more than a month of physical training, how is Zhou Yi's physical condition?

"It's still difficult to adapt to the intensity of the sports in the professional league, but the youth team...you can try it." Bartlett said to the U17 coaching staff with the data.

How to try?

It's very simple, use the game to test it.

Let Zhou Yi see how many minutes his physical fitness can last.

If you can persist until eighty minutes, it will be considered as meeting the basic requirements of the game.

During the training camp, there are a lot of such examples, because the youth team of u17 also has warm-up matches.

What are the warm-up matches used for? Isn’t it just for this?

"I decided to let Zhou Yi play in the next game against Dusseldorf." Ecker announced the decision at a coaching staff meeting on Monday, and no one in the coaching staff raised objections.

Everyone sees what Zhou Yi shows in training. This kid has a very strong ability to read games, and he may understand the game one to two seconds faster than ordinary players.

If it weren't for his physical fitness, he might have been able to play in the team long ago

Since it is to test his physical fitness, it is normal to play in the next game.

Seeing that no one objected, Ecker continued: "Then let's determine the other players."

Starting from the goalkeeper, many positions are arranged without much effort. The coaches are very familiar with the team for a long time. They will not consider which players should be arranged for too long, unless they are large-scale injuries, which will make people feel a little troubled.

But this is not the case now.

After making arrangements smoothly, we arrived at the forward position.

"Let Hank go here..." The assistant coach said as he wanted to write his name on the list.

But head coach Ecker suddenly stopped him: "Wait."

The assistant coach looked up at Ecker strangely. After Schneider raised u19 from u17, Hank has always been the main striker of u17. He is not injured at the moment and his physical fitness is also good. Why does he still need to hesitate?

"Switch to Mark Wagner." Ecker spoke.

His decision surprised the entire coaching staff.

"Why?" the assistant coach asked directly.

"Didn't you notice that his tacit understanding with Zhou Yi is far better than other teammates?" Ecker asked his coaching staff members.

After he said this, the rest of the coaching staff began to ponder. When they recalled carefully, they realized that what Ecker said made sense.

Although Zhou Yi looks like there is no gap between him and the whole team on the court, there is still a gap between him and Mark. He and Mark do have a feeling of "cooperation".

During the team's offensive drills and team games, it can be seen that Zhou Yi was consciously seeking Mark's cooperation, and Mark is also the player in the team who can best understand Zhou Yi's passing ideas.

Zhou Yi and other players have no barriers to each other, saying that he cooperates with those teammates, but it does not mean that other teammates can take the initiative to cooperate with Zhou Yi.

Mark is the best performer.

There is an obvious but always overlooked fact in training, that is, when Mark and Zhou Yi are in the same group, his performance is better than if he is not in the same group with Zhou Yi.

The coaching staff had always ignored this point before, because Zhou Yi could not get the chance to play. When arranging the lineup, without Zhou Yi, there would naturally be no Mark.

But in this game, if Zhou Yi wants to give him the opportunity, can Mark also get corresponding opportunities?

This is indeed something worth considering.
Chapter completed!